


i love you

by upsettieddiespaghetti



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hallucinations, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:00:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24932686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upsettieddiespaghetti/pseuds/upsettieddiespaghetti
Summary: Luffy tells Law he loves him
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	i love you

Luffy told Law that he loved him a month after they had started dating. When Luffy told him those words he choked on his coffee. He’d been completely taken aback by those three words.

Everyone he had ever loved died. First it was his parents and his sister, Lamy died. Then when Cora had died, that was the last straw for him. He reprogrammed himself to never let himself love again. It was simply too dangerous. So when Luffy had said the three words that he was terrified of, it threw a wrench in his programming.

Coffee spilled onto the table of the coffee shop they sat in. Soft music played over the speakers as Law felt the world come to a halt. He coughed into his arm and stood up suddenly. His brain warned him of the danger. He had to get out of here, it wasn’t safe anymore. 

“Uh, I have to go. I-I, uh, I’ll see you later.” All the color had drained from his face and his body walked out of the coffee shop on auto-pilot. 

“Bye Traffy! I love you!” Luffy called out after him as he walked away.

Those words stuck on Law’s back for the rest of the day. They followed him through alleyways, corridors, frantic turns, and even into the O.R. He was being haunted by one of the most common phrases. He did his best to ignore them, but the second he thought they were gone, he’d turn around and they were right there. It was exhausting. 

At lunch his coworkers questioned him about his behavior. 

“So, is everything okay? You’re acting a little weird.” Law stared at his coworker across from him. His fork was halfway to his mouth. The world slowed down once more for him. He lowered his fork. He wasn’t entirely ready to tell his coworkers that he’d ran away from three little words. He took a shaky breath and folded his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the ghost of those words. He forced himself to stare at his coworker across from him. Law cleared his throat.

“Uh, yeah.” His coworker raised an eyebrow. 

“Don’t lie to me Trafalgar.” Law cringed. He scratched the back of his head.

“Well. Luffy told me he loves me this morning.” He said. His coworker dropped his fork. Salad spilled onto the table. 

“Dude! That’s great! What did you say? Did you say it back?” Law felt his chest tighten. 

“No. I didn’t Shachi.” Shachi frowned.

“I mean that’s valid though. It’s only been like what? A month? Since you guys started going out right?,” Law nodded, “Just take your time. I’m sure Luffy will understand.” Law gave a half-hearted laugh.

“Yeah.” He let the word trail off. Sure maybe Luffy would be okay with him not saying it back now, but would Luffy be okay with him never saying it back? Law caught another glimpse of those words. Their presence was suffocating.

When Law got back to his apartment that night, he felt so drained. He had spent all day trying to run from those words. He threw his keys onto the counter. Today had been a rollercoaster of emotions for him. His whole existence had been thrown off, and it was all because of those three stupid words. Although if he thought about it, they actually weren’t that little. Law sighed and held his head in his hands. Getting into this relationship had been simultaneously one of the best and worst things he had ever gone through with. How could he be with someone he wouldn’t allow himself to love? Would Luffy be okay with that? 

Law couldn’t stop the thoughts from coming. They materialized and wrapped around his appendages and dragged him down into the floor. He tried to grab onto something and stay in the real world, but another thought took him down under into the massive ocean his thoughts filled. Law tried to take a breath but he choked on his words instead. They filled his lungs like blood or water. He opened his eyes and saw countless ‘I love yous’ spill from his mouth. Law saw disembodied versions of Lamy, his parents, and Corazon reach for his words. With every word they touched, Law felt himself be dragged deeper and deeper into the depths of his mind. Law desperately tried to reach out and grab onto his words, and take them back, but when he tried to grab onto them they dissolved into smoke. 

In between Corazon and Lamy, he saw movement. His eyes widened in horror as the familiar face of Luffy appeared between the two of them. His lips were pulled back in a cheek splitting grin. The scar beneath his eye dripped with blood. His eyes had rolled back into his head which gave him a ghastly appearance. Law was taken aback by the sight in front of him. He inhaled and choked on his words again. Luffy pushed past Cora and Lamy. Luffy opened his mouth.

“Where’s my love Traffy?” His voice sounded empty and hollow. Law shook his head and he tried to cover his mouth. His love and words were like poison. He didn’t want Luffy to be anywhere near it. Law couldn’t let anyone else get hurt. In the background he could hear Cora and the rest of them join in. 

“Come on Law, just give it to him. Don’t you know how much he wants to join us?” Law shook his head and clasped his hands tighter together over his mouth. His lungs burned without air, as he tried to keep his toxicity away from Luffy. The longer he kept his hands over his mouth, the more persistent Luffy got. 

“Traffy, please give me your love. I’ll die without it.” Tears pricked at his eyes. No Luffy you’ll die with it. He thought to himself. In the corners of his vision, he could see black slowly start to creep in. He was running out of air. Before he knew it, he would lose consciousness and his toxic words would get to Luffy and he would die. Just like everyone else did. He could feel his hands fall away from his mouth as the black took over his vision. His jaw went slack and the poisonous words filled the space up between him and Luffy. The last thing he saw was Luffy feverishly grab at his words, like it was the only thing that mattered.

Law woke up with a start. His body was covered in a thin film of cold sweat. The sweatshirt he had apparently fallen asleep in clung to his back like the words. He got up off of the couch and stood up in the dark living room. The moonlight cast shadows all over the room. His eyes bounced around the room to see if the words had followed him home or not. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as his eyes scanned the room for the ghost. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t spot it. With an uncomfortable tension hanging over him, he walked to his room and collapsed on his bed. 

The next months passed swimmingly. It seemed that since he had that first nightmare, the ghost had left him alone. Even though the words hadn’t followed him around during the day, he still saw them every night in his dreams. Every night when he went to bed, he still came face to face with the disembodied Luffy who begged him relentlessly for his love in his sleep. He still choked to death on his words, and fell to the dredges of his mind with thoughts of killing Luffy with his toxic love. Luffy still feverishly grabbed at his words as he lost consciousness like it was his lifeline. Law still woke up paranoid that the ghost would be somewhere in the room when he woke up. 

It had become a regular occurrence for Law to go on walks with Luffy. There was something about being outside in the sunshine that made the ever-looming presence of the ghost fade away. On one of these walks, they came across one of his coworkers. 

“Hey Law, whatcha doing out here today?” Shachi said with a smile. Law gave the hand in his a squeeze. 

“Oh, I’m just out for a walk with Luffy,” Law didn’t catch it but Shachi’s face fell slightly, “Did I ever introduce you two?” Law gave Shachi an unfamiliar smile. Shachi looked hesitant. He scratched the back of his head.   
“Luffy?” He said with a quizzical tone. 

“Yeah my boyfriend. Luffy.” Law made a gesture off to the side of him. Shachi’s face fell completely. He didn’t even try to hide it. Shachi struggled to form a sentence and Law wondered what the problem was. “Law.” The words were so gentle that Law was taken aback. Shachi looked at him with sadness in his eyes. Shachi took a step closer towards him. “Law, I don’t know how to tell you this,” Shachi avoided his eyes, “but there’s no one there.” Shachi cringed when the final word left his lips. 

“Don’t you remember what happened all those months ago?” Law felt the world come crashing to a halt. Time had slammed on the brakes and Law felt a tremor run through his body like whiplash. A cold sweat broke out over his skin as the memories came flooding back. He turned his head and saw that Luffy had turned into the disembodied version he had seen in his nightmares. His face fell and he dropped the hand he held. 

“Where’s my love Traffy? Come on just give it to me. Please.” The hollow voice he thought only existed in his head was alive. Law felt the air rush out of his lungs. He fell to the ground and clutched at his chest. As a doctor he’d been hesitant to ever diagnose a patient with it but his heart was broken and he was dying from it. 

Black creeped into the edges of his vision and Law felt his strength begin to fade. He shook his head as he fell to his knees on the ground. He needed to hold on for a little bit longer. Between the black he saw Luffy crouch down. He put a hand on his shoulder and asked him something, but Law couldn’t hear him. All he could hear were the toneless voices of Corazon, Lamy, and his parents pressuring him to say those three words.   
“Just tell him Law. Tell him how much you love him.” Their voices echoed loud and clear in his ears. Law felt his lungs burn. He needed to breathe now or else he would die. He wouldn’t just wake up and go about his day, he would take his last breath and that would be it. Law could tell that not enough oxygen was getting to his brain and that he was going to die. 

Could he die happily knowing he kept Luffy from knowing that he loved him? Was the risk really that bad? Tears welled up and spilled over onto his cheeks. The black filled almost all of his vision. The only thing he could see was Luffy. His last ounce of strength finally faded. His hands fell from his mouth. Corazon, Lamy, Luffy, and his parent’s howling voices silenced themselves. Law let his eyes fall shut. He knew that this would be the last time he’d see Luffy, but that didn’t phase him. The darkness completely overtook him now and Law fell freely towards the afterlife. 

Law woke up and he wasn’t on the sidewalk anymore. He didn’t have any idea as to where he was. There were no details in this place at all, it was just blank. Law wrapped his arms around his torso and took a step forward. Off in the distance of the expressionless expanse he heard footsteps running towards him. He turned around and he could see a small figure coming closer. He squinted to try and see who it was. Suddenly the figure launched themselves at him. Their arms and legs wrapped around his torso. Law looked down and he felt tears form in his eyes. He wrapped his own arms around them and held them close to his chest. “It’s so nice to finally see you again Traffy.” Luffy whispered in his ear. Law didn’t know how long Luffy had been waiting for him. To be honest he felt bad making him wait here all by himself. Law pressed a kiss to the top of Luffy’s head. “I love you Luffy,” Law paused and turned away from him, “I’m sorry it took me so long to say it. I thought I was going to hurt you by saying it, but instead I think I hurt you more by not saying it when we were alive.” Luffy grabbed Law’s face and held his face in between his hands. He laughed and Law was confused for a second. “I don’t care about the past Traffy, I’m just glad you got the chance to tell me.” Luffy stood up on his tip toes and pressed a kiss to Law’s lips. Law felt the tears start to flow once again as he wrapped his arms tighter around Luffy and kissed him back with all the love he could muster.


End file.
